Full Disclosure:I have been a bit of a Killers fan long before I even knew Brandon Flowers and I shared the same religion, or the fact that he attended high school little more than a stone's throw from where I now live.
While I haven't loved every single tune they've put out there, I must confess that "When You Were Young" and "All These Things That I've Done" are old standbys, guaranteed to lift me out of a funk. The track "Only the Young," from Brandon's solo album has been my phone's ringtone for the past two years. "Magdalena" is my number one go-to song for road trips. So, yeah, you could say he's a favorite.
So, when I was made aware today of a Scandinavian television interview that Brandon did recently-- where he was thrown completely off guard and directly confronted about his faith by the noted scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins-- I was naturally curious and watched to see how it all played out.
Wow.
Rock on, Brother Flowers.
Brandon is involved in the dialogue up until about twelve and a half minutes into the video. The discussion revolves around faith from 2:48 on. For someone who came onto the program to talk about music and promote an upcoming album, he does an amazing job of courageously standing up for his beliefs in the face of mockery and disdain. (And keeping cool and good-natured during Dawkin's inflammatory remarks, who appears on the scene at about 7:30-- I'm certain I wouldn't have stayed as collected as he did!) I was reminded of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's recent quote from Sunday's CES Fireside, "We can’t check our religion at the door. We are to stand as witnesses of God at all times…not in a few places."
As someone who has done a LOT of research and study about church history, I feel that I have a pretty good grasp of both sides of the debate. Certainly it's clear which side of the line I fall on. For anyone who might have questions about the origins of my faith or our history-- I would only ask that you not believe everything you read. There's always (at least) two sides to every story.
For answers to commonly asked questions about Joseph Smith, visit here.
For a partial answer to Dawkin's assertions about the language of the Book of Mormon, visit here.
Thanks, Brandon, for standing up for your beliefs. You made me proud to be a Latter-Day Saint today.
Oh, and by the way?
Love the new song.
Wow. That was both great to watch and hard to watch. We recently had Dawkins visit Australia, and watching him on a famous panel show here made me shudder. He really is a modern-day Korihor. A real smooth talker.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, watching Brandon here just made me smile. No argument. No baiting. No contention. Just simple testimony and some smiles. Good on him.